A claim that Ryanair was seeking to undermine democracy by attacking the Taoiseach was rejected yesterday "with contempt" by the airline.
In a strongly-worded attack, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) said Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary was attempting to bully the Government into breaking up Aer Rianta.
Mr O'Leary, the union said, had produced no evidence to support his claim that Ryanair would create 5,000 new jobs at Dublin Airport if allowed to build a second terminal.
In a response to what it called "the ramblings of the Tee-Hee U", Ryanair said unions had been involved in two actual and one threatened closure of Dublin airport in the past six months. Their "crocodile tears" should therefore be treated with contempt, it said in a statement.
Ryanair has repeatedly offered to guarantee an extra five million passengers a year, which would create 5,000 new jobs.
This was "more than three times the number of jobs presently being protected by the anti-consumer bully boys in the TEEU", the statement said.
Mr Arthur Hall, a senior TEEU official, said any jobs that Mr O'Leary did create would be of the "race to the bottom variety" that would displace existing, good quality employment at the airport.
Mr O'Leary, he said, had been accused of bullying tactics by the Taoiseach, but in fact he was worse than a bully.
"He is a would- be dictator who uses his huge financial resources to buy media coverage and quite ruthlessly lampoon any politician who gets in his way and deride every opinion except his own."
Ryanair said it had created 2,000 jobs and the average company salary was more than €50,000, which was "higher than the average pay in Aer Lingus, or Aer Rianta". It asked why the Government would not proceed "with its own plans to break up the Aer Rianta monopoly".